LA Craft Beer Crawl 2011 [Photo Gallery]

Congratulations if you made it to all seven bars at Saturday's LA Craft Beer Crawl. Either you have an iron will or an iron stomach. The crowds were thick and the beers, from populist IPAs to obscurist ales, were well curated, thanks to The Beer Chicks. We started off at The Broadway Bar with The Bruery's Tart of Darkness, a fascinating sour stout with a creamy texture and hints of cherry, which means it's just begging for a scoop of chocolate ice cream. We paused at The Golden Gopher and the only keg of Drake's Aroma Coma that's currently south of Oakland. We ended up sipping a Michelada with LA bar impresario Cedd Moses, who is, in part, responsible for the crowd of beer-goggled folks stumbling through downtown on Saturday.

[A photo gallery and a few favorites after the jump.]

New Belgium 10/10/10: Part of the Lips of Faith line, this beer was brewed on October 10th, 2010 at exactly 10:10 a.m, contains 10 ingredients (four malts, four hops, salt and pepper) and is 10% alcohol. It's also part of some quixotic quest by the brewery to move us all to the metric system. The result is a complex Belgian Strong Pale Ale that pours pale yellow and tastes sweet and spicy with a faint floral hint.

Cismontane Black's Dawn: A mellow Imperial Stout, this 8% beer has a nice creamy head and a lovely coffee flavor that's subtle, not overpowering.

Bootlegger's Brewery Black Phoenix: Like someone ashed a chipotle into your beer, but in a good way. Not for everyone.

Taps Fish House & Brewery Oaked Thomas Jefferson Ale: This is the hands-down winner, the one that blew us away. We weren't alone. Reddish amber in color and creamy in texture, this beer is slight smokey